Morphological marking of constituent questions: A case for nonlocal amalgamation

Abstract

This paper considers the role of nonlocal amalgamation in a system of analyses for typologically diverse languages. Nonlocal amalgamation (Bouma et al. 2001) was suggested in particular to get rid of extraction rules in Pollard and Sag's (1994) analysis of long-distance dependencies. However, in implemented projects like the English Resource Grammar (Flickinger, 2000, 2011) and the Grammar Matrix (Bender et al., 2002, 2010), the extraction rules have been maintained, while nonlocal amalgamation is used for the analysis of phenomena like the easy-adjectives. Zamaraeva and Emerson (2020) argue that, if extraction rules are kept, then supporting the English easy-adjectives may be an insufficient reason to maintain nonlocal amalgamation in a cross-linguistic system like the Grammar Matrix, as it complicates the analysis of multiple question word fronting with flexible word order (in languages such as Russian [rus]). However, I present here a case of morphological marking of questions (in languages like Makah [myh]) which further motivates nonlocal amalgamation, as the analysis is remarkably more simple with it than it is without it. An analysis of morphological marking of questions needs to be part of a cross-linguistic system such as the Grammar Matrix as well as an analysis of multiple fronting, which adds a new tension at the level of the Matrix "core" and provides concrete material for discussion of issues ranging from empirical implementation of theoretical ideas like nonlocal amalgamation to the big question of how much of typological space a single system of grammar is expected to cover.